President Donald Trump announced he was doubling tariffs on steel imports during an appearance Friday afternoon in Pittsburgh to tout a steel deal between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon. 

‘We are going to be imposing a 25 percent increase, we’re going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America,’ the president said. 

Trump was appearing at the Irvin Works, a U.S. Steel plant outside the Pittsburgh city limits in West Mifflin, and was surrounded by orange-clad U.S. Steel workers when he shared the news.

Last Friday the president announced he was backing a ‘planned partnership’ between the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon, earning him support from many of the Mon Valley plants’ workers. 

The International Steelworkers Union, also headquartered in Pittsburgh, remained skeptical of the deal and prominent Pennsylvania Democrats stayed away from the Republican president’s appearance.  

During Trump’s remarks he vowed to turn America’s Rust Belt into a ‘Golden Belt’ – covered by his proposed ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system.

And to further endear himself to the crowd, a trio of former and current members of the Pittsburgh Steelers christened Trump a ‘Steeler’ for the day, giving him a Trump 47 jersey onstage. 

He was also gifted a golden hardhat by steelworkers backstage.  

‘If you don’t have steel you don’t have a country,’ Trump told the crowd. 

He told the workers – and their family and friends – how he was initially skeptical of Nippon encroaching on the American steel great. 

‘I was watching over you. You don’t even know,’ he said. ‘You’re the best people. You built this country. You people built this country,’ the president added. 

Some details about the new deal don’t seem to be fully cooked.

U.S. Steel’s board will remain U.S. citizens, as will key management positions, including the company’s CEO. 

The U.S. government would get a ‘golden share,’ which would allow it to outvote shareholders on certain key decisions.

Ahead of the president’s arrival, U.S. Steel President David Burritt and Nippon’s Takahiro Mori, executive vice president, appeared together onstage to tout the partnership. 

Both thanked Trump profusely.

‘Because of him, U.S. Steel stays mined, melted and Made in America,’ Burritt said. ‘It’s another golden age.’ 

‘This moment is a new beginning and with the right leadership and the right partner we’re ready to build something better and bigger,’ Burritt added. 

Mori used a similar phrasing when it was his turn to speak. 

‘Because of President Trump, U.S. Steel will remain mined, melted and in America by Americans,’ Mori said. 

John Bielich, 68, of Bethel Park is about to hit his 47th anniversary working for U.S. Steel or as a contractor. 

He said he was ‘relieved’ last week when he heard news of Trump backing the deal. 

‘Because this deal, when it was first proposed, was a great deal for United States Steel, its workers, the communities that these plants sit in,’ Bielich told the Daily Mail. ‘It will sustain United States Steel operations, specifically in Pittsburgh and the Mon Valley, for many, many years to come.’ 

When Bielich first heard that it was a Japanese firm looking to acquire U.S. Steel he said he was skeptical. 

‘The heart sank a little bit, but then as I started to understand the value of the deal of what Nippon was going to bring to U.S. Steel, given the state of steel-making in this country, I accepted it as a great opportunity,’ Bielich said. 

Chris J., a 22-year-old college grad who’s moving back to the area, said he was attending Trump’s speech Friday because his father worked in the industry.

‘We’ll see what President Trump has to say but at the end of the day it sounds like a lot of people are getting a lot of security they’ve been looking for,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘But then also, for our city, from that standpoint, we’re getting an influx of investment that we really haven’t seen this magnitude of.’ 

‘At the end of the day, people – from my understanding – are keeping their jobs and it’s cool because this is my city, I’m coming back into it, and hopefully see one or more things that will be reaping the benefits of this,’ he added. 

The site for Trump’s speech was at an active facility, the Irvin Works, a U.S. Steel plant located outside the city limits, hugging the Monongahela River in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. 

Even with hundreds of attendees – some in hard hats, other in MAGA hats and many in their bright orange U.S. Steel jackets – the set-up for the speech, took up less than a quarter of the aging warehouse. 

A vendor outside was selling specialized ‘Terrible Towels’ – a fixture at Pittsburgh Steelers games – for the occassion, which read ‘President Trump …Make USS Great Again, The Birthplace of Steel.’